(Owner’s Office, Blackstone Station, Star’s Reach System)
Looking over the reports from the Heartseeker, I considered what to do with the system they had discovered.
The existence of a binary planet system was, frankly, strange enough to warrant sending a science expedition all on its own. The ruins of civilization on one of the binary planets and on the fourth planet were interesting, as well. Clearly, there had been a space-faring civilization in the system at one point, even if they weren’t traveling between systems.
If they were system-bound, then there’s any number of reasons why a civilization could have been wiped out. Plagues and natural disasters were easy enough to figure out. Earth had suffered a number of extinction level events in its real-world history, so it wasn’t out of the question that other worlds could suffer them as well.
Hell, the existence of ruins on multiple planets wasn’t all that unheard of, either. If whatever event or series of events that led to the orbit of one of those planets into a binary orbit with a planet closer to the sun, then it could easily cause troubles for a planet further out. Something that could move a planet could easily turn a populated world into an inhospitable desert.
The problem was the third planet, the one with an Iron Age civilization. Oh, not that there was a third planet with signs of civilization on it, that wasn’t too hard to explain if you were going with a civilization that had been wiped out. No, the problem was that the inhabited planet was sandwiched between the two dead planets.
That raised a whole bunch of questions, naturally. The biggest question being: what could wipe out life on two planets, but leave the one in the middle alone? I mean, there were any number of reasons why two planets could have been devastated, but unless whatever event destroyed those planets happened while they were lined up, while the middle planet was off in a different part of its orbit, there was no chance that the middle planet wouldn’t have been affected. While that was statistically possible, it was… far from likely, to say the least.
“What do you think, Raven?”
My faithful assistant shook her head. “Unknown. Clearly, there was a civilization on at least three planets in this system at one time, but an event that could only be considered cataclysmic happened, and wiped out two of the three planets. However, if you look at the latest readings from the Heartseeker, the middle planet looks to have had some signs of previous civilizations, as well.”
“Yeah, I see it. That mountain looks to have a city built into it, if the scans are any clue, but there doesn’t look to be any access points, unless you can fly, and the locals don’t look to have that ability. What do you think, a colony or remnant from the fallen civilization, or something else?”
Raven shook her head. “If that was the only instance of the civilization on the planet, I might be inclined to agree. However, the towers scattered around the planet suggest something more substantial.”
The towers. There were twelve towers, and what looked like remains of twenty-four more. They were set out in what was clearly a triangular grid pattern. From the ground, it would be hard to recognize, especially with iron age technology, but from orbit you could clearly see that they were very precisely placed.
The surviving towers were those located in the mountains, for the most part, or the ones closer to the poles. In other words, places that the native inhabitants were less likely to be. As for the fallen towers, it was hard to tell from orbit, but my suspicion was that they fell more due to violence than to age and neglect. After all, even if whatever technology in the towers no longer functioned, they were useful landmarks, and stood a kilometer tall, at least. Any ruler would want to claim one, if only for the prestige.
Raven continued, “My initial thought is that the towers comprise some kind of planetary defense system. Likely a shield of some sort. Though the science and power requirements for such a shield are beyond anything we have in Known Space, such things have been theorized by scientists and fiction writers for generations.”
I nodded slowly. “Then I take it you agree that the formations in the gaps of the grid look like the results of an orbital bombardment?”
“Affirmative. If you look at the readings, there are clear indications that the area was glassed. I would guess that some kind of high-energy beam was used to scour the area, since the damage does not look like what you would see from an explosion, like fusion warheads.”
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
“And then there’s that big lake, right?”
“Right. As you can see from the sensor scans, there is clearly a large mass at the bottom of the lake, which has a depth of exactly 1.5 kilometers. In addition, there are clear indications that, at one time, the lake was either made or expanded through artificial means. After all, a near-circular lake with a connection to a nearby bay, forming a perfect harbor, is utterly unheard of in nature.”
“Do the natives use it?”
“As you can see, there is a port on the far side of the bay from the lake, and a smattering of buildings on the closer shore, but the natives do not appear to want to get closer. Those buildings likely belong to outcasts and those who have no better options.”
I looked at that section of the data more closely. Why wouldn’t an iron age civilization use such a perfectly designed ‘natural’ harbor? There had to be something wrong with it. And, it turned out, there was.
“Are these readings correct?”
“Unfortunately, yes. There appears to be a large concentration of isotopes commonly associated with fusion explosions. Given the concentrations and associated successor isotopes, I can say that the bombardment must have happened between four and six thousand Terran years ago. The area will still be toxic to humans without protection for another thousand years or so.”
I whistled softly. That would put the civilization’s death at about the time that Ancient Greece was a thing. And someone had bombed them hard enough that the place was STILL radioactive after all this time.
“Who the hell did they piss off hard enough to go through all that?”
“Unknown. Any records that survived would likely be on the ground.”
I sighed. It wasn’t like I was expecting any other answer, even if I hoped for one. It was a lot easier to keep from pissing off people with these kinds of capabilities if you knew who they were and what they were about. If there was a family of angry bears around, I wanted to know about it before I just waltzed into their home, ate their porridge, and slept in their beds out of ignorance.
“So, we’re thinking that the natives are, what, the successors of the former civilization that had been bombed back to the stone age?”
Raven nodded. “A little crudely put, but yes, that would support the evidence at hand. An interplanetary or interstellar war could have destroyed the civilization, but the middle planet survived with enough of its ecosystem intact that, despite the civilization falling, the species survived. With everything we know so far, there is a good chance that a technologically advanced race reduced to primitive technology would have taken a good deal of time to recover.”
“And the further they fell, the longer it would take them to recover, assuming they didn’t have to literally rediscover everything, right?”
“Right. In a technologically advanced society, the number of people knowledgeable in primitive technology and capable of using it to survive is a fraction of the population. If you consider that a large portion of that fraction is typically more likely to join whatever their equivalent of the militia or military was, then they would likely have found themselves on the front lines of the attack. The number of survivors with applicable skills and physical prowess would have been small.
“Of course, the fact that the planet appears to have high numbers of psy-active individuals suggests that they may have had psy powers before their civilization’s end. In that case, there is a chance that psy powers have degraded at a different rate from their civilization’s peak than their technology. It might not have fallen as far, and it may even be where they were, or more advanced, depending on how their culture treats psy-active individuals.”
I nodded slowly. I was the last one to forget that psy powers could cover for a variety of deficiencies. “Assessment of the natives?”
“We don’t have any transmissions to judge from, obviously, and pictures taken from orbit are not exactly the best for this work. However, it looks like there is a variety of natives, enough variety that they may, in fact, be different species entirely. If the civilization was interstellar before, then they might have retained enough of a population of different species that there were viable populations. Or, they could be the result of mutations due to radiation exposure following the fall of their civilization, and genetic drift over the following millennia.
“As for a threat assessment? Unless they have technology or capabilities that aren’t reading on scanners, there is no way that the natives can be deemed a threat to our ships in orbit. On the ground, a propensity for Psy powers could make up the difference between their technology and ours. At least enough that I wouldn’t say any engagement would be bloodless on our side. There may be areas where psy powers have substituted for technology, as well.”
I considered that for a moment. We couldn’t deny the danger if the natives proved hostile. And yet, there was clearly the remains of some technology that far eclipsed our own, and hints of major players that I wanted to know about before they knew about me.
“Authorize a science expedition. Limit the scope to planets 2A and 4 for the moment. We’ll work on the options that can avoid cultural contamination as best we can, while still getting whatever research we can get our hands on.”
Raven nodded. “As you wish. I’ll make the arrangements. Who would you like to head up the project?”
“Unfortunately, we are short on experts in archaeology and other such fields. Get a hold of whatever scholarly journals you think appropriate, and see if we can find someone who can be useful, without any ties to the major powers. This is a project we can let sleep for a while, until we get the right person, but I’d prefer sooner, rather than later.”
“I can do that, sure. How would you like to acquire the experts?”
I took a breath. “Those who can sign a contract, and be trusted to live up to it, including the fact that their research can’t be published until our hold on the system is ironclad, can be hired on. Others, well, if you find any in debt trouble, you can arrange for Black Star to purchase them out of debt slavery. Get further authorization before trying to do anything of grey legality, so we can analyze whether it is worth the risk.”
“It shall be done, boss.”
A tone interrupted me, informing me of an incoming communication. Hitting the accept button, I said, “Mollen here. State your business.”
“Sir, this is Captain Gellar in CIC. The sensors are detecting a Chaos Gate opening at the dedicated entry zone.”
“Number of ships?”
“Five. Three corvettes, one cruiser, one dreadnaught. Sensors identify the battleship as the Vengeful Spirit.”
“Hail Warmaster Abaddon, and offer him the greetings of Admiral Mollen of the Black Star Navy. Have an Assassin and a trio of gunboats from the local defense fleet escort them in. Launch the alert squadron of Thunderbolts as well. Escort formation.”
“As you command, Master.”
“Good. And give the Warmaster permission to dock a shuttle in Bay Four, and have a detachment there to greet him as a VIP, and escort him and his attendants to Conference Room Two.”
“It will be done, Master.”
I looked over at Raven, and grinned. “Well, let’s table this until you find a suitable candidate to lead the expedition, and go see what the Warmaster has uncovered.”